Project New Grounds
by Trevyler
Summary: Our favorite SAO characters once again find themselves in another new game. This particular game is different than the others in terms of design and such. It is referred to as Project New Grounds or New Grounds Online. Come and see what this game has to offer and what problems will be in store for our friends. Ships currently undecided. Expect lots of OC's.
1. Here We Go Again

**How's it going everyone my name is Trevyler and welcome to another Sword Art Online fanfiction. Unlike my previous ones it's not just a Kirito/Lisbeth story, but it'll have more of an actual story to it. One thing as always with my stories is that everyone is usually OOC.**

 **This story takes place in a game that I couldn't come up with a name for so I just called it Project New Grounds or New Grounds Online. Tell me which you guys think works better and I'll go with whatever one recieves better feedback. To say a little about it, there are different types of areas within it. They can range from Ancient Eurasia to Modern day Cities to Futuristic Places. Just know that there'll be a lot of places for the characters to go. Sometimes I'll give two or three options of the next place and all you beautiful readers out there will get to pick the next location. Any of info about the game will be given in the story and reviewed in the second note at the end of each story.**

 **Regarding a few things with the SAO characters.**

 **-Like I said they will be OOC.**

 **-Lisbeth and Asuna will be kinda at odds for obvious reasons (Kirito) at certain if not all points.**

 **-Kirito/Asuna will not last throughout the entire story so if you're here for that then you've been warned.**

 **-Silica/Keiko won't be in love with him anymore either.**

 **-Sinon however hasn't been decided.**

 **That's all for now. Let's get on with the story. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 1:HERE WE GO AGAIN**

In the world of ALfheim Online, two boys and five girls sat in a bar talking away.

The red headed boy, Klein, drank his tenth or so drink, "I wish it were so easy to drink like this in a real bar sometimes. Although I guess that would defeat the purpose." he talked more to himself than the others.

Sinon glanced over at him, "Idiot. I'll never understand how you of all people survived the death game." she told him.

He laughed like an idiot, "I'm not as stupid as you think I am. I just like to enjoy myself a bit." he responded.

She just rolled her eyes and returned to listening to the stories that the others were telling her about. Of course they were talking about Kirito while him and Asuna are too off in their own world to notice.

Silica sighed, "You know guys, I've pretty much given up on getting his attention. He's obviously happy with Asuna. Maybe we should just let things be." she suggested.

Lisbeth slammed her hand down on the table, not loud enough to disturb the others away from the table, "Really you're just gonna give up like that. It's easier said than done. I don't plan on giving up anytime soon. When a chance prevents itself I'm gonna be ready." she said with determined smile.

Leafa sighed, "I know what you mean. It's even harder for me. I live with him. Plus he doesn't know that I still feel that way about him since I've been playing it off as it's over with." she said sadly.

Sinon felt all eyes fall on her, "What about you Sinon? What do you think of Kirito?" Silica asked.

She set her cup she had been sipping on down, "I like him. Not like that, but he's a good friend and someone who understands the situation I've been in." she answered/

The words held more sentiment that she had meant them to, but they were true.

Klein chuckled, "Well there's another one lost to Kirito." he said before he burst out laughing.

The blue haired girl's cat ears flinched a little and she growled before she slapped him across the room to the opposite side of the bar and left a bright red hand print on his face, not unlike the one Kirito got in Gun Gale Online.

He raised his hand, "I'm okay." he said.

The only response he got was all the girls rolling their eyes.

Just then Yui flew up to everyone, "Daddy! Daddy!" she said drawing everyone's attention.

Kirito smiled, "Hi Yui. What do you need?" he asked his daughter.

She waved everyone over to her, "There's a new game that I've been hearing about and it's servers just opened up in Japan today. Can we go see it?" she pleaded.

He raised an eyebrow is it free or is it something we need to buy?" he questioned.

The little fairy expression dropped a bit, "It's a downloadable game that cost around 7000 yen instead of paying a subscription fee. Once downloaded you just play it like you would any other virtual reality game. You can also transfer accounts from other accounts." she said still hoping to see it.

The swordsman rubbed his chin, "I should have enough to get it. Alright let me see what I can do." he told her.

She gave the brightest smile she could and kissed her dad on the cheek.

Kirito turned to his other friends, "Any of you guys want to come along?" he offered.

Klein gave a thumbs up, "Count me in!" he said.

Asuna smiled, "You know I'm coming." she replied.

Lisbeth stood up, "Me too!" she agreed.

Sinon and Silica looked at each other and nodded, "I guess we're in too." Sinon confirmed.

Leafa just smiled and nodded.

They agreed to logout an call each other once they had the game.

* * *

Kazuto stretched in his chair as he watched the last few seconds of the loading bar fill.

He grabbed his phone and sent a group message to everyone saying that he was ready.

Suguha knocked on the door, "Tell everyone I'm ready. Okay Onii-chan?" she told him.

He smiled, "Alright Sugu." he called back.

He sent another message and waited for the reply.

The phone buzzed a few times.

 _All set and ready to go-Ryo_

 _I'm ready too-Rika_

 _Let's get this show on the road-Shino_

 _I'm ready. I wonder how Yui will turn out in this game-Asuna_

 _Wait for me guys-Keiko_

 _Hey did you guys hear that this game you get to pick where you start off.-Ryo_

 _What?-Kazuto_

 _Apparently there's different starting cities and stuff. Each one is different. There's cool things like ancient japanese things, knight, modern cities. It's all in one game.-Ryo_

 _So do you guys wanna start at the same place or find somewhere to meet once we get in the game?-Asuna_

 _We can meet somewhere once we get in the game. Since I'm here to let Yui see the game, you guys can start where you want and we'll message each other.-Kazuto_

 _I know where I'm starting-Ryo_

 _Can we just play the game now?-Suguha_

 _Yeah let's get going so we can do as much as we can today. See you guys inside.-Kazuto_

Kazuto turned off his phone and put on the nerve gear, "Link Start!" he said as he was sent into the game.

* * *

 **This wasn't a very long chapter I know, but starting the story is the hardest part for me. Okay so next chapter, everyone will kinda explore different parts of the game depending on where they chose to start. Now I have a question for all of you. What three characters would you like me to focus on in the next chapter. I'm thinking of going with Kirito, Klein, and Sinon. If you have any suggestions, feel free to review or PM me. This chapter would've been up last night, but ,my power went out. Twice. So I had no internet at all from like 11 last night to sometime this morning. Good thing is that I slept through most of it. Thanks to the power outage I'm also gonna be unable to write as much. My schoolwork is all online so I couldn't do that either so I'll be busy for quite a bit. As always have a great day everyone!**

 **~Trevyler**


	2. The Game Begins

**Welcome back to Project New Grounds. My name is Trevyler and today we actually get into New Grounds Online after the short intro chapter that was more Author's Note than story. Sorry about that, but I had to start somewhere. I couldn't just have them in the game for no reason without having a little bit before hand. Alright so since I didn't get any opinions on who to focus on this chapter, I decided to just kinda focus on different people instead of specifics. So I won't tell you where they are, but I'll tell you who chose to spawn at the same place as each other. Kirito, Asuna, & Silica all spawn in one place. Lisbeth & Leafa spawn in the same place. Sinon and Klein are by themselves in two different places. I'll explain where Yui is in the chapter. Okay that's all I've got to say. Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 2:THE GAME BEGINS**

Kirito looked at the screen in front of him. It prompted him to pick a starting location. He red each option.

 _-Capulet City_

 _-Rosutoshiti_

 _-De Ordine_

 _-Algonite Castle_

 _-The Cyberzone_

 _-Noitacude District_

 _-Blackridge_

Seeing a few choices that interested him, he just picked Capulet City.

As he felt the familiar feeling of spawning in for the first time, he looked around to see a lot of people around him. Some appeared to be spawning in while others seemed to be meeting people or talking to each other.

He recognized two people among the crowd, "Asuna! Silica!" he called out.

They turned towards him and quickly walked over to him.

Asuna smiled, "Looks like we picked the same starting point. It doesn't look like anyone else is here though. I wonder where they started at." she said.

Kirito nodded, "I have a feeling I know where Klein and Sinon are. Not quite sure where Leafa and Lisbeth will end up though." he told them.

Silica was too busy looking around to hear them, "Come on guys let's explore this place. It looks so real." she said in amazement.

Kirito finally took a look at the game at self and had to say that this games graphics put SAO to shame. He could swear that he was standing in the middle of a huge city. Something clicked and he immediately felt his hair. He sighed in relief to find it at it's normal length. He looked down at his clothes to see that he was wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, which he assumed was the starting equipment for this city. Silica and Asuna were wearing white T-shirts and black skirts.

Asuna thought about something else, "Wait. Shouldn't Yui have been here too. Since she can adapt to whatever game she's in. If she was here she would've found us by now." she said concerned.

The other two realized that she was indeed absent, which was unusual as she's usually always with them.

Kirito scratched his head, "You're right, but where could she be?" he asked aloud.

They decided to head into town and see if maybe she was just delayed.

Silica and Asuna found a store that interested them a bit. A clothing store to be exact. Kirito sighed, _'Having most of your friends be girls does have a few drawbacks and shopping is definitely one of them.'_ he thought to himself.

It was only then that they realized that they had 500 coins to start off with.

Most of the clothes costed around 50 coins as they didn't differ much in stats from the starting clothes.

Kirito was glad to find a black jacket that stopped just above his knees. It was all he needed for now since he had a feeling that swords wouldn't be a common item to find in this city.

They girls each found their own outfits as well. In the end they all spent about 60 coins each as Kirito's jacket was a pretty decent early equipment while the girls had to buy a shirt and skirt for themselves.

This place had everything. Restaurants, stores, hotels, apartments, hospitals, bars, even arcades.

Kirito thought about how weird it was, _'A game within a game.'_ he chuckled to himself.

They stopped and walked into a bar and sat at a table since it was also a restaurant.

A waitress came up to the table, "What would you like to drink?" she asked.

They couldn't tell if she was an NPC or a player, but frankly it didn't matter.

Silica went first, "I'll have a Vanilla Slush." she said.

The waitress entered it on a pad that was similar to the game menus and then looked to Asuna.

She messed with her hair obviously undecided, "Um, I'll have the...Tropical Dream? Yeah that." she said intrigued by a lot of the drinks on the list.

Kirito himself couldn't blame her. There were a lot of oddly named drinks yet they didn't sound half bad.

He looked over the list until he found something he knew he had to try, "I'll take the Black Obsidian." he ordered his drink.

The waitress entered it in and left to get their desired drinks before coming back within a few seconds and placing them on the table, "Anything else I can get for you?" she asked them.

They shook their heads and she said that they could call her over if they needed something.

Asuna was the first to break the silence, "Really? Black Obsidian. Of all the drinks on the list you pick the one that starts with black. You are so full of yourself." she said shaking her head.

He laughed, "And that's why everyone loves me." he said in a teasing tone.

The girls rolled their eyes and took a sip of their drinks.

Silica smiled, "This taste great. It taste kinda like ice cream." she said taking another big drink.

Asuna expected hers to be like your average fruit punch type drink, "Wow this is better than I expected. I've had some of the best fruit drinks in the world and none can compare to this." she said enjoying the fruity drink.

Kirito didn't know what to think of his, "Well here goes nothing." he said and took a drink of the dark liquid.

It started out like a grape sort of flavor, followed by the sting of ice and a hint of...candy?

It was a strange combination indeed, "This is weird, but at the same time I kinda like it." he made up his mind about the drink.

Asuna stopped sipping her drink, "Yui still hasn't shown up yet. I'm starting to get worried." she said looking to her friends.

Someone at the table next to them cleared his throat, "Someone having a problem getting into the game?" he asked.

Kirito turned around in his chair, "I guess you can say that. This might sound a bit crazy, but we adopted this little girl in another game we were in. She actually turned out to be part of the game itself and now jumps from game to game with us. Actually she's the reason we came here. " he explained.

The stranger pushed his blonde hair out of his face, "No I believe you. I've seen some similar things in other games. One of them actually taught the creators of this game how to make AI that acted and learned like a real person. That's how all of the NPCs in this game are made." he told them.

Kirito was interested now, "Wait so the NPCs in this game can learn like people can? Wouldn't that mean that the enemies could learn how to avoid attackers?" he asked.

The other guy shook his head, "Only the non-hostile and more important NPCs have the learning system. Standard enemies are just like any other game. Hey how about I take you to where the admins and game masters run system checks and see if someone found your girl?" he offered.

Kirito nodded, "Thanks that would be helpful." he said hoping he wouldn't regret trusting this stranger.

* * *

Leafa and Lisbeth also ended up in the same place. That place happened to be Algonite Castle, where a majority of magic users and such lived.

They each got a medieval waitress looking outfit, in red and green respectively.

Lisbeth wasn't too happy with her decision, "I really should've payed more attention to the description." she told the blonde beside her.

Leafa patted her shoulder, "Hey at least that means we aren't alone here. I hate being in a place where you don't know anyone." she told her.

The other girl wasn't satisfied, "That doesn't help me. I was hoping to look for somewhere with weapons not magic. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with magic, but weapons would mean that I had a possibility of being able to open another shop." she replied.

The younger girl giggled, "You and your blacksmith shop. Do you have to have one everywhere we go?" she asked.

The pink haired girl nodded her head, "I like to have one because of a certain event that happened back in SAO." she got quieter to avoid people hearing them.

Leafa wasn't amused by that comment, but didn't show it, "Something? I think you mean someone. Stop talking about my Onii-chan like everyone doesn't already know that you're hopelessly in love with him despite him being taken." she said trying not to let her possessive nature take over.

Lisbeth crossed her arms, "Could say the same to you." she mumbled.

Despite Lisbeth's complaining and their bickering, they rather enjoyed exploring the huge castle.

The blonde girl was looking out a window that overlooked the courtyard and the area surrounding the castle, "Look at this. It's amazing." she said eyes looking over the landscape in awe.

Lisbeth payed no attention to what she was talking about, but was happy to discover that there was a blacksmith job, "Yes. Lisbeth's Blacksmith Shop will be open in no time." she cheered to herself.

She joined Leafa by the window as they both noticed a group of what looked to be knights entering the front gates.

Leafa gasped, "There's knights here too!" she was really liking this game.

This particular group of knights, they discovered after a bit of asking around, were the leaders of The Shield.

The Shield protects Algonite Castle from thieves, assassins, and anyone or anything else that endangered the residents.

Their leader's name was Leon. He stood at the front wearing silver and black armor that was noticeably different from the rest. His hair was light brown as were his eyes. He looked to be in his mid 30's-40's.

His second in command was his advisor Orin who unlike the others didn't wear armor. The man sported a black ponytail and a strange eyepatch as well as a grey eye. The clothes he wore looked to be made of this leather, including a brown, mid length sleeved shirt, long black gloves, tan pants, and brown knee length cuff boots.

Next was the mysterious Tidus, who had never shown his face to anyone other than his comrades. He wore big bulky armor, obviously showing that he was meant to do more damage and take less at the cost of speed

The last member was smaller than the rest. It was a blonde woman with her hair tied back in a rather elegant fashion. She wore a long sleeve blue shirt, a blue skirt, blue leather boots, blue gauntlets, a silver breastplate, and a silver tasset around her waist.

The two girls were interested in learning more about these soldiers, but they didn't think it would be a good idea since it could attract a fair bit of attention to them, which wasn't wanted at the moment.

They sighed and went to learn more about the game.

* * *

Klein looked around at the city known as Rosutoshiti.

It looked to be a from Japan during the times when Samurai and such were still around. The exceptions being that people still talked and acted like they would in modern times.

He looked down at his outfit, which consisted of a red kimono, black hakama, and sandals. He knew that finding some better clothes would be something to look into.

The town itself looked to be extremely populous as their didn't seem to be an area that wasn't already occupied. Maybe he'd better look for someplace to stay, if there was one left, or message someone else.

He decided against it and went exploring instead. The food here was mostly eastern based seeing as it's theme was Ancient Japan. There were some common western foods like pizza and burgers as well. He almost wanted to spend his starting money to taste some of it. His trip was halted when he found a weapons shop containing just what he needed.

On display in the shop was a katana with a shining silver blade and a black and gold hilt. Klein's eyes lit up as he entered the shop.

He approached the shopkeeper, "How much for the katana?" he asked eagerly.

The shopkeeper, a girl with long brown hair that was tied into a ponytail and caramel eyes, smiled, "It costs 3000 coins." she said to his disappointment.

He only had the starting amount of 500 coins so he needed another 2500 coins to buy it, "Do you think you could hold it for me for a couple days until I can get the rest? I'll even give you some money now if I have to." he pleaded.

She brushed her bangs out of her face, "You're cute. I guess I can hold it for three days at the most. How much money you got to put down?" she asked.

He chuckled nervously, "You called me...Um I have 500 coins right now. I just started here , but this isn't my first time playing these types of games. I'll be on my way in no time." he said smiling sheepishly.

She smiled, "Give me 250 and have dinner with me and we'll call it a deal." she said winking.

His face flushed, "Deal! I mean sure. I'm Klein by the way." he said mentally facepalming himself.

The girl nodded in acknowledgement, "Kiara. Nice to meet you Klein." she said shaking his hand.

He started sweating, how he didn't know, as they shook hands. A girl...No a cute girl...had just asked him out. She asked _him_ out.

He knew that he could faint at any second, but at least he had a legitimate reason for once.

* * *

Sinon glanced around the town called Blackridge. It was something she was familiar with to say the least. It was a western looking post apocalyptic looking town that looked like it had survived from a nuclear war. The people all had the cliche rough and tough look that most people in places like this sported. Some people looked like they weren't like that though. There were children, who she assumed to be NPCs, and others who just looked like they were surviving with what they had.

She herself was wearing an old looking tan cloth shirt, a leather belt, some worn out gloves, brown ripped jeans, and faded boots that could've passed for cowboy boots. While not particularly fond of her attire, she felt at home in the environment itself. It reminded her of Gun Gale Online. Somewhere that she learned to face her fears and met a very good friend.

She saw a man approaching her. He had greying black hair, a thick mustache and cold black eyes. He was wearing the same clothes as her, plus a cowboy hat and a vest that was the same color as the boots.

The tipped his hat at her, "Welcome Newcomer. What's your name?" he said in a surprisingly friendly matter.

Sinon was a relieved to hear this, "Sinon. You?" she said playing her part.

He chuckled, "Straight to the point. I like you already. The name's Dale. I'm one of the rangers of these parts. Please talk to me if you have any questions." he said smiling and once again tipping his hat in farewell.

She was puzzled, "What that an NPC? Or a player?" she asked herself confused.

She just pushed the thought aside and went back to her observation of the area around her.

Someone chuckled next to her, "Well well look what we have here." a man's voice said.

It was four men that looked like criminals from what she could tell, "Come on pretty lady. You'll make this nice and easy won't ya." he said with a cocky grin.

Sinon smirked, "Yes. Yes I will." she said and cracked her knuckles.

A few moments later the men laid on the ground in handcuffs.

Dale chuckled, "Good work. This troublemakers have been around here for ages. Glad someone finally took care of 'em." he said.

She nodded, "It's no problem. They got what was coming to them." she said grinning.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pouch, "For the help." he said giving it to her.

A notification appeared saying that she had received 300 coins along with the starting amount.

She smiled to herself, "This is gonna be fun." she said loud enough where only she could hear it.

* * *

 **And that's a wrap. I had started writing this chapter on Saturday, but something unfortunate and personal got in the way. My grandpa passed away Saturday night at the age of 76. I've been preoccupied with helping mu family out and decided to finish this while I had the chance. I probably will be gone until at least Saturday due to the funeral and other things. I thank my friends on here who'll understand. My grandpa served in the military three different times so he'll get a military funeral and grave which my family was happy to find out as he thought he wouldn't get one. So please can everyone be patient if I'm gone for a while, I've got a lot on my mind as it is. Regardless I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Remember to read and review and I'll see you all next time.**

 **~Trevyler**


	3. Poll

**Hello everybody my name is Trevyler and today I'm gonna give you guys a choice on a few SAO related things.**

 **1\. Should I keep all my one-shots exclusively on their own or make a collection of them?**

 **2\. Would you guys prefer a gender swapped Kirito story collection with different characters or a Kirito/Harem story?**

 **3\. Who would you prefer got the main female role in my next story? Excluding characters introduced in the Alicization arc as I haven't read those. I may be able to do Yuuki from Mother Rosario though if I actually watch those.**

 **4\. Should I try to include more or less OCs in my stories? I have a lot of characters that I thought about using and wondered if you guys would care if I used them.**

 **5\. What should I make a crossover with if I decide to write one?**

 **a. FairyTale**

 **b. Death Note**

 **c. Devil May Cry**

 **d. Black Butler**

 **e. Tekken**

 **That's all. SO just let me know in a review or PM. You can answer all the questions ,some of them, or none of them. That's up for you to decide.**

 **I'll leave a count on votes after an unknown amount of time and remove this chapter once the poll has been closed.  
Anyway have a great night and I'll see you next time.**

 **~Trevyler**


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